Operating from Japan—where she called at such places as Fukuoka, Kagoshima, and Sasebo—she visited Tsingtao, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Amoy to keep a wary eye on the events occurring in China until she returned to San Diego on 20 September.

The destroyer reached Long Beach on 5 February and, after completing a five-month repair period, resumed operations along the Pacific coast which, save for a run to Pearl Harbor in the fall of 1949, occupied her until events in Korea summoned her back to the Orient.

She spent another nine days at sea; then joined the cruiser Helena and the rest of Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 111 to form the first unit dispatched from the west coast to the new Asian conflict.

Chandler and her sister warships completed their mission in the narrow waters separating Taiwan from communist-controlled mainland China and headed for Japan on 2 August.

The destroyer helped soften the positions until the landings on 15 September and, after that, covered the amphibious forces and conducted bombardments which aided the troops ashore in advancing.

Short tours of duty patrolling the Taiwan Strait, visits to Japan, and liberty calls at Hong Kong all served to break up her long stretches of service along the Korean coast.

Most frequently, she conducted antisubmarine warfare (ASW) drills with hunter-killer groups built around aircraft carriers specially modified to stalk submarines.

In mid-February 1961, the destroyer began a year-long Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhaul during which the San Francisco Naval Shipyard refurbished her and brought her physical plant up to date.

At that time, she resumed training operations in the eastern Pacific where, save for a cruise to Hawaii with the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard late in November, she remained until the summer of 1964.

Theodore E. Chandler received orders to join the ASW screen of carriers dispatched to deliver air strikes on North Vietnamese torpedo boat bases.

In response to local political turbulence, Theodore E. Chandler rendezvoused with the 7th Fleet Amphibious Ready Group, and prepared to evacuate United States citizens should the need arise.

On 18 November, the destroyer received orders detaching her from the Bon Homme Richard group for duty as an antiaircraft warfare (AAW) picket ship.

The carrier launched air strikes during the following eight days; and then, on 18 December, the entire group shaped a course for Subic Bay and thence proceeded to Hong Kong for another five-day port call.

On one occasion, the destroyer brought her 5-inch guns to bear on Viet Cong forces staging a major attack on Allied troops and received credit for thwarting the guerrillas.

On 13 November, the destroyer responded to a call for help from SS Rutgers Victory, on fire in Nha Trang harbor—about 200 miles (320 km) northeast of Saigon.

The combined efforts of two Navy ships, two Army tugs, an Air Force firefighting team, and Rutgers Victory's own crew eventually conquered the blaze, and the warship cleared Nha Trang to resume a heavy schedule of shore bombardment missions.

After bombardments in support of the 1st Air Cavalry's Operation "Thayer II" near Qui Nhon in late January and early February, she departed Vietnamese waters to visit Taiwan and to conduct an ASW exercise in the northern Ryukyus.

The destroyer returned to Japan in mid-February and remained there almost a month before taking up duty on "Yankee Station" in the Gulf of Tonkin with Bon Homme Richard on 17 March.

Five days later, she shifted her plane-guard service to the carrier Kitty Hawk and remained so employed until 27 March when she joined Bainbridge, Duncan, and Henderson in a fruitless, two-day search for a plane lost at sea.

The other half of Operation "Sea Dragon" consisted of shore bombardments to destroy depots and marshalling areas as well as to interdict coastal lines of communication.

Though it consisted of a mix of assignments similar to previous tours—working with carriers and conducting "Sea Dragon" operations—events occurred to give the duty a slightly different twist in each instance.

On 25 July, while the destroyer conducted "Sea Dragon" missions along the coast, the 3d Marine Division called upon her guns to assist them in driving the Viet Cong 806th Battalion west toward waiting South Vietnamese forces.

Theodore E. Chandler joined the group of ships assisting the carrier in removing her wounded and dead and in readying her to travel to Subic Bay, the first leg of a voyage back to the United States and major repairs.

The destroyer parted company with the carrier shortly after midnight on 30 July in response to orders to return with HMAS Hobart to "Sea Dragon" duty off Vietnam.

From there, she moved to Subic Bay with a task force built around the carrier Coral Sea and, after three days in the Philippines, headed back to Vietnamese waters.

Before returning to Yokosuka on 17 October, the warship participated in a series of ASW exercises, visited Hong Kong, and conducted surveillance of Russian trawlers operating in the vicinity.

That duty continued for almost a month until 16 January 1968, when she moved close to the shores of the First and Second Corps Zones of South Vietnam to provide naval gunfire support for the 5th Marines until early February.

After another two-week in-port period at Yokosuka, Theodore E. Chandler resumed search and rescue duty on the north SAR station in the Gulf of Tonkin followed by five days of shore bombardment in the First Corps Zone once again from 11 to 16 March.

PIRAZ duty with the cruiser Long Beach, a visit to Singapore, and the loss of a gunfire spotting drone to enemy antiaircraft fire near the mouth of the Song Giane River highlighted that combat cruise.

During that deployment, she spent most of her time at sea off the coast of Vietnam engaged in familiar duty as naval gunfire support ship, SAR picket, and as escort for aircraft carriers.